How to film STAR WARS miniatures like The Mandalorian | Tutorial After Effects

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Learn how to film your old Star Wars toys and make them look like the miniature spaceships in the original trilogy and more recently the Razor Crest in The Mandalorian! ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) had motion control, we just had a slider and a wide angle lens...

In-camera miniature special effects were such a big part of the original Star Wars trilogy, and this is why so much in these films still looks amazing today. Even the prequels used a surprising amount of models.

Now if like me, you grew up in the 80s or 90s and have some Star Wars toys lying around, this can be a really fun experiment to try. Although these are very small, and they're not nearly as big as the models that were used for making the original films, it made me want to try and experiment to see if we could get some shots of them looking good. And these days, it has never been easier to combine shots of miniature models with other digital effects and really bring a scene to life. We tested this idea by shooting a miniature Star Destroyer and Tie Fighter against a blue screen, to try and recreate some similar-looking 'flying' shots from the original Star Wars films. This is a really fun effect to try as most of the effect is achieved in-camera, by moving the camera instead of the model. We removed the background using Keylight in Adobe After Effects and could then drop in a starry background to represent space.

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[beachlove]

I love how this guys attitude when approaching vfx is “let’s just figure it out” using really simple stuff and then *makes it look good*

[AlaskafishStudios]

As someone who works primarily with miniatures and scale models, one thing you could have done to the toy to make it seem bigger is touch it up. Some really simple options would be to apply a black wash over the model. The wash, essentially highly diluted paint, would seep into the crevasses and build up on extrusions, giving you the illusion of screen space ambient occlusion. This creates more contrast, and creates this faux-shadows, which can create the illusion of the greeble looking much larger (as it should be since it's a giant space ship).

[consumeproduce]

Practical in camera effects ALWAYS feel better.

[mordaciousfilms]

Thank you for being one of the few Youtube channels that shows ACTUALLY ACHIEVABLE VFX solutions that don't require expert CGI expertise or expensive tools. This is all stuff that I can do with my Adobe software and some artistry and patience, and that's what I want to see more of here on Youtube. Reminds me of OLD SCHOOL Indymogul when they were showing the absolute CHEAPEST and easiest effects anyone could do!

[mr.g.]

"And you, we will watch your career with great interest."

[dj-]

My god this is amazing. One of my best channels on youtube. thanks Steve

[vpct]

What's especially nuts is that there's some really, really good quality models out there for Star Wars.

Get some Armada ships and you could have a kickass fleet shot.

[leighemmerson]

Top video Steve as always. Small correction however - you need a 'large' depth of field not a small one! The instructions about closing your aperture are correct it's just the words that were wrong!

[georg]

Really nice. I'd love to see more miniature effect scenes (like adding people to miniature sets to make it look, as if they were physically there)

[jayconnor]

My approach to filmmaking is using miniatures and practical effects that are enhanced by digital tools and resources, so I think that helps sell the realism instead of simply just using one over the other. Great video!!

[faisalf]

Was waiting for this.... Thank You so much Steve ❤️

[TGiannini]

Excellent discussion of aperture, shutter speed, type of lens, etc. Well done. And thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[Uhfgood]

green/bluescreen shots are always fun to watch... I may try it sometime

[alexgrimm]

I would love to see this with lego star wars ships

[MaxV]

Great video! A quick note: ILM guys were actually filming models at a very low speed (1 frame every 1 or 2 seconds) because the longer exposure on each frame allowed them to have the whole model in sharp focus, stopping down the lens, . This way they could achieve a more realistic depiction of a starship that was supposed to be gigantic and, for this reason, all in focus. I really admired how they figured out all the best ways to film those models inventing techniques that simply weren't there! Thanks for the video, super inspiring!

[WLANDFILMS]

Great video thanks for the tutorial 👏🏻🤖🙏

[BenjaminROUX]

Incredible. Even if I'm not skilled at all in special effects and movie editing, all the concepts are explained very easily. Thanks for sharing !

[offthematrix]

Great Tutorial! It's nice to find a person who knows how to work with cameras and models. All the other tutorials for effects I found are dependent on having After Effects. I did a lot of effects for my channel with only basic software.

[jeronimotamez]

This is a lifesaver! Thanks for the tips, they’re going to be really useful for my Star Wars film I’ll working on

[arsenykarkach]

Closing the iris INCREASES depth of field!